Retiring on SS alone (relocate, raise, travel, tax)
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I am at my friends house for a few days in upstate ny . Nice country town of rhinebeck. He pays 9000 a year in taxes for his home ,barns and 10 acres.
Anywhere i would consider living ain't going to be close to 1 k a year. Even when we had the home in the poconos we paid 3k a year and 650 in hoa dues
Rhinebeck is a great town. I'm a little over an hour South of you, for now, anyway. Off to Virginia Beach for the week to do some housing recon, in a few hours. Enjoy!
One thing that I've learned from reading C-D is how shockingly high property taxes are in places like NY, New Jersey, and California.
Paying over $1K per month to the local government for the privilege of living in your mortgage free house is just way too much. Now I understand why so many retirees leave for cheaper places like Arizona or Colorado.
Here it's possible to have a nice house with property taxes of less than $1k per year.
Here in New England with a huge house on 150 acres of land our taxes are around $800/year.
With likely a mill rate of $10/$1000, Homestead exemption, Veteran exemption, Tree Growth exemption, Open Space exemption and you probably found a way to get a Farmland exemption I am actually surprised you pay any property taxes at all living where you do in Maine.
Now fess up, how much of your $1,500 monthly budget is spent on the purchase of Deep Woods Off because the one and only time I ever ventured into your neck of the woods I recall the mosquitoes were the size of seagulls and the welts they caused me from their bites were the size of plums ?
Let's say you retire early and then your money runs out about the time when you start collecting Social Security.
It seems like you could do OK even as a single person. Let's say you get $1,500/month in Social Security.
You can move into a subsidized senior complex where you pay 1/3 of your income, which would be $500. You'd also get $200/month or so in food stamps, and you would also get Medicaid. If you live in a city, you could get senior bus/train passes which should be very cheap.
So really, your monthly expenses would be as follows:
$500 Rent
$50 Bus pass
$300 Food (since $200 is covered by food stamps)
$0 Medical since you get Medicaid
$50 cell phone with unlimited data
$100 household goods
------------
$1,000 total expenses per month
That means you would have $500 left over for whatever you want. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
One thing that I've learned from reading C-D is how shockingly high property taxes are in places like NY, New Jersey, and California.
Paying over $1K per month to the local government for the privilege of living in your mortgage free house is just way too much. Now I understand why so many retirees leave for cheaper places like Arizona or Colorado.
Here it's possible to have a nice house with property taxes of less than $1k per year.
High cost of living areas are not high cost in a vacuum. They have high real estate taxes because home values are high. Home values are high because these areas are desireable.they are desireable because that is where the higher paying jobs are .
Someone with a paid off home after decades and the higher lifetime of social security payments from the
higher incomes who relocates to cheapsville is far wealthier than the locals usually.
A home that appreciates 3% a year and is now 800k is far more than a house that appreciates 3% a year and is 200k.
So desireable areas can be worth it.
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-15-2018 at 07:15 AM..
There are websites that have the subsidized senior housing units listed, so you should be able to pick which one you want. Most of them have waiting lists though, but it seems like once you get in you're all set.
Obviously you have not done much research. Otherwise you would know these Subsidized Senior Apartments, at least the ones larger than a Dorm Room, often have a seven year waiting period.
What will you do for housing during those seven years after your money runs out and before a vacancy opens?
Resale comes into play when relocating. Many live and work in high cost of living areas and then see a windfall when relocating . Those higher values on these homes can be nice when you accumulate enough equity. Not to mention some pretty juicy social security checks because of the potentially higher incomes.
I could have worked for a competitor in the poconos when we had the house. It was paying less than half my ny wages. My lifetime social security payments would be way less than they are if i lived there my whole life as opposed to relocating
Resale comes into play when relocating. Many live and work in high cost of living areas and then see a windfall when relocating . Those higher values on these homes can be nice when you accumulate enough equity. Not to mention some pretty juicy social security checks because of the potentially higher incomes.
I could have worked for a competitor in the poconos when we had the house. It was paying less than half my ny wages. My lifetime social security payments would be way less than they are if i lived there my whole life as opposed to relocating
ding ding ding. best answer of the day. I couldn't rep you anymore.
I don't see where the OP said he is in his 30's and will not be retiring for several decades or plans to stop working now. It seems MadMan knows him from a different thread and knows his age to be in his 30's and his desires. (maybe I missed it from the OP in this thread)
Here's your answer about the OP and his plans:
Quote:
Originally Posted by whateverblahblah
...I'll be 35 years old in 3 years, when I will vest in a pension. I'm not sticking it out until I get full benefits. Once I vest, I'm out, not only of my present job but I will be done with accounting jobs and office jobs in general. I'm just sick of the way people behave in offices.
Maybe you still want to take him seriously, but I'm sure not going to waste my time responding to his fantasy numbers and scenario for whether he'll be able to live on food stamps and in government subsidized housing 30+ years from now.
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